There are no second glances, no whispers or requests for selfies. Nobody recognises Dipa Karmakar - who made history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics - as she enters the lobby of a Calcutta hotel. A Sania Mirza or Saina Nehwal - to say nothing of a cricketer - would have had the lobby spilling over with fans. But, clearly, a record-breaking gymnast is not quite the same thing in India.

How does it feel to be an achiever, yet not have a fan following?

"It doesn't really matter," Karmakar, 22, replies. "But slowly people are getting acquainted with gymnastics."

Though Indian women are on the margins of world gymnastics, what Karmakar has achieved for India is no mean feat.

Her list of "firsts" is a long one. She hit the news in 2014 when she bagged a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal. She subsequently won a bronze in the Asian Gymnastics championships and the fifth position at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, both firsts for India. In April, she managed to grab a berth at the Olympics to be held in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro this summer, with a score of 52.698 points. Since 1947, only 11 Indian male gymnasts have made the mark - and Karmakar is the first Indian woman to do so.

With 77 medals - 67 of them gold - under her belt, the Bengali girl from Agartala is, however, modest about her achievements.

"I don't think I have done much, I am yet to prove myself. But I am very happy to be the first woman gymnast to represent India in the Olympics," she says.

The news that she had made it to the Olympics was greeted with elation last week. The actor Shah Rukh Khan tweeted: "Finally our own Nadia Comaneci. Dipa Karmakar u r the pride of our Nation. Ur achievements inspire us. Thanks lil one," he tweeted.

The message from the star has gladdened her heart. "Yes, I heard of that and felt very happy and hope to meet him some day," she says.

Sitting in her hotel room, in a shocking pink body-hugging top and black tights, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looks like any young woman her age. She fiddles with her smartphone, switching it on and off, as she talks, her coach sitting by her side.

Scratch the surface, and you see a picture of determination. Years of hard work and practice have placed her right at the top of the small and arduous realm of gymnastics in India.

She started training when she was six. When her father, who was a weightlifting coach with the Sports Authority of India (SAI), took her for training in gymnastics, Karmakar was found to be flat-footed, a major disadvantage for any budding gymnast. But with perseverance and some rectification exercises, she was soon tossing and turning in the air, and landing nimbly on her feet.

She was studying in an English medium school, but left it to join a school that didn't have a rigorous academic routine. "My school gave me ample time to practise and was not strict with attendance. So I could train without any fear," she explains.

When Dipa was a child, her father, Dulal Karmakar, was struck by the speed with which she ran around the house. "As a sportsman, seeing her speed, flexibility and strength, I had a hunch that she would make a good gymnast," he says.

He was right. Dipa was just nine when she won a gold in balance beam in the North East Games in 2002, competing with girls much older than her. She was referred by the Tripura Sports Council secretary to the Netaji Subhas Regional Coaching Centre in Agartala and since then she has been training under her coach, Bisweshwar Nandi.

"My coach has been my source of strength since I was six. Complete faith in one's coach is the most important precondition for excelling in any kind of sport. There might be difference of opinions, but at the end of the day, you follow your guru," she holds.

It is not easy to train as a gymnast in a country like India, where people have little interest in the sport. In nations such as Russia, China or the Koreas, gymnasts are picked up when very young and trained intensively. American women, who dominate world gymnastics, have the best of training facilities.

Karmakar, on the other hand, has been training against all odds. Her expertise lies in the Produnova vault. But till date, Tripura does not have the apparatus required for the vault, and Karmakar has to go to Delhi for training.

This artistic gymnastics vault, named after Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova, is so deadly that one wrong landing can break one's spine into two and, in some cases, lead to death.

"I am not frightened. After all, anything can be risky in life. I pray to God and trust my coach before every attempt," she says. "I practise the Produnova vault daily at least 15-20 times."

Karmakar adds that she is grateful to SAI for providing her with the latest apparatus and equipment required for artistic gymnastics.

With six days of practice and Sundays being reserved for studies - Karmakar is doing her masters in political science through distance learning - she has no time for leisure activities. She is not on Twitter or Facebook and has very few friends in her hometown.

"At the end of seven or eight hours of practice, I am so tired that I don't even know when I fall asleep," she says.

But she loves eating Chinese food and watching films. The last film she watched was Bahubali. "I love Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif is my favourite actress," she says, smiling broadly.

Where does she see herself a few years down the line? Does she have any plans to open an academy for gymnastics? "I don't know," she replies. "Right now it's only Rio that's on my mind."